Thursday, November 19, 2009

Headlines - Thursday

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Last night Rachel Maddow covered the spreading wingnut meme currently being sold on mousepads, bumper stickers, and even teddy bears. The meme? A recitation of Psalm 109: "Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Let his children become fatherless; and his wife become a widow." Frank Schaeffer, a one-time evangelical leader, tells Maddow that this latest Bible-quoting campaign is nothing short of "trawling for assassins."

"There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone. Our friends and allies don't expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness." - Cheney the Dick Link

Odd, Cheney had no problem with Bush blowing the Saudi king.

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Red states operate on blue states' dime

Let's get right to the point. The five poorest states in the nation are Mississippi, West Virginia, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Kentucky. The five wealthiest states are Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. Those are the numbers from the US Census and they tell us a lot about the partisan divide in America. Of the five pooorest states in the union, five are Red States that went for McCain in 2008. On the other hand, of the five wealthiest states, all five voted for Obama. In other words, the anti-tax, screw-the-poor, federal-government-isn't-the-answer crowd comes mainly from the poorest states and are, therefore, among the most lightly taxed. They're the ones who seem mostly likely to benefit from federal government money. In terms of federal taxes spent in their states, Mississippi gets 202% of every dollar they pay, West Virginia get 176%, Arkansas gets 141%, South Carolina gets 135%, and Kentucky gets 151%. The only state in the five wealthiest that receives more than they pay out is Maryland, at 130%. People marching around in angry little circles with signs showing President Obama with a Hitler moustache haven't been paying their fair share. Kind of makes their concerns about the deficit a little hard to take, doesn't it?

According to the Center for Science in the Nanny State, everybody should stop eating movie popcorn immediately.

CBS reports on a study by the Center for Science and Public Interest that analyzed nutritional makeup of movie popcorn; the results are eye-opening. Consuming a medium size popcorn and soda is the equivalent of eating three Quarter Pounders from McDonald's, along with 12 pats of butter. The concessions from Regal, the country's biggest movie chain, have 1,160 calories and three days worth - 60 grams - of fat. Regal said that the medium popcorn had 720 calories and the large had 960, but CSPI's tests found those numbers to be understated. A small popcorn at Regal had 670 calories - the same as a Pizza Hut Personal Pepperoni Pan Pizza. Even if you share a small popcorn - it's still about a day's worth of saturated fat per person, according to CSPI.

The Go Office Wheel Mate Steering Wheel Desk is flat for writing and perfect for lunch or a snack. This Go Office Wheel Mate Steering Wheel Desk stores neatly in your car when used with the larger Auto Exec Laptop Car Desk. For safety reasons, never use this product while driving. Easily convert your car into your personal automobile office with the Wheel Mate car desk by MobileOffice.

-Wow is this thing great! I use it as a "mini-bar" when the friends and I go out to the bars. I can quickly fix multiple shots of tequila for myself and the friends as we drive from one bar to the next. We also discovered that if you place a pillow on top of it and turn on the cruise control you can catch quick naps on the interstate. If you swerve to the left or right the rumble strips on the road wake you up in plenty of time before you get into trouble. I can now take longer trips without being tired!

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Who will they blame now?

The Catholic church spent $2M on a study to find out if gay men are largely the cause of the church's now decades-long molestation scandal. They aren't.

Fact: the church has paid more than $2.3B in almost 14,000 molestation-related settlements. Good thing they're tax exempt.

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TPM - End of abortion coverage for ALL women

In case you missed it, definitely take a moment to read our report on a new study from George Washington University School of Public Health which explains why the Stupak Amendment will eventually eliminate abortion coverage for all women, not just those purchasing subsidized insurance through one of the new insurance exchanges. A must read.

I have no faith that this country won't elect Sarah Palin...but Palin/Glenn Beck? Are we THAT meshuggeh?

With even the most optimistic estimates having the employment picture not even BEGIN to improve until 2011, and Tim Geithner's buddies giving themselves huge bonuses instead of doing things like lending money in the aftermath of their huge taxpayer bailout, and Barack Obama's continued tossing under the bus of everyone who could otherwise be relied on to go to the mat for him, it's hard to imagine that the 2012 race won't be a real dogfight. The question is, just how angry (or racist) are people going to be, and are they willing to destroy the country in a stupid attempt to save it?

The signs are already there that the men who sit in the executive suites behind the so-called liberal media long for a Republican restoration, and if they can get a president about whom they can fantasize in a French maid costume, or dressed in dom/sub gear, or if they are like David Vitter, diapering them, well, so much the better. That every time she opens her mouth, incoherent babble comes out is immaterial. After all, we had a babbling idiot in the White House for eight years and survived, though whether we have survived or are just enduring the death rattle of a once-great nation remains to be seen.

Does anyone actually believe that if Sarah Palin looked like Barbara Mikulski, there would be this kind of fascination with her? Sure, her palpable self-delusion and ability to baldface lie without even flinching has a perverse kind of fascination. But I don't think it's her narcissistic, delusional megalomania or her willful ignorance that people find so attractive. Sure, projecting confidence can make people think you know something even when you're a blithering moron. But it's clear that Sarah Palin is all about the looks. The question is just how far those looks will carry her, and whether anger at what threatens to appear to be the utter failure of Barack Obama to clean up an economic mess that has taken nearly thirty years to make in a few short years is enough to generate a protest vote of that magnitude.

1 million: Number of people who "could lose unemployment benefits in January if Congress doesn't extend federal aid," according to a new report by the National Employment Law Project. Around 9 million people currently rely on jobless benefits, with unemployment at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent.

From out of all the misstatements, narcissism, spin and distortions that make this biography so embarrassing to read, one indisputable fact emerges: It's pretty clear ex-governor Palin would still be a low-profile politician in the frozen north, but for candidate McCain and his staff. Those would be the same folks she attacks so fiercely in this biography.

This "memoir," co-written with Lynn Vincent, is one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. "Going Rogue" appears to be addressing a checklist of grievances that Palin has been nursing just about all her life. Palin's emotional and intellectual development seems to have stalled out somewhere around tenth grade.

I have to say that this book really scares me. If 40-odd percent of Americans believe that she is right to be number two in office the world has big problems.

As a serious read about politics in America, this book best serves as toilet paper or kindling. As a hysterically funny look at the rantings of a pathological narcissist and why the Lunatic Wing of the far right must never, ever be allowed to hold power or even reproduce, it's the best political satire since Al Franken or Molly Ivens.

The sheer level of disrespect Going Rogue has for its readership is astounding. It, like the author, assumes that Americans are idiots, too dumb to see through the lies and spin.

So what if Sarah Palin didn't write this book? Even God used earthly scribes to write the Bible.

… hurrrr derp derp derp …

Bonus: the book is full of so many fabrications and delusions that Andrew Sullivan's blog has gone silent in order to sort through the mess.